Apple has suffered a humiliating retreat at the hands of the popular beat combo artist Taylor Swift.

Apple had a cunning plan which involved people paying shedloads for its super cool music streaming service and the artists would do it for thrill of giving the cargo cult money.Apple was surprised when Swift had a problem with that as it believed that everyone in the entertainment business was happy to give it lots of money.

Swift said she would hold back her latest hit album "1989" from the service.

She found Apple's policy of not paying artists during free trial "shocking and disappointing" as it would hurt young artists just starting out.

Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue announced the change of heart through Twitter (@cue).

Swift, 25 said that she was elated and relieved. After all there cannot be too many 25 year olds who get Apple to actually see common sense.

Swift has fought with music streaming services before. She pulled her entire catalogue of music from online streaming platform Spotify last November and refused to offer "1989" on streaming services, saying the business had shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically.

She has supported Apple's drive to supplant advertising-based free streaming services with one funded by user subscriptions. She just thought, quite reasonably that she would get a bit of cash for it.

A data facility being touted as proof of how Apple technology is good for the environment has been flooded with deadly chlorine gas.

The leak the Apple data centre in North Carolina has landed five people in hospital.

Chlorine can be stored as a liquid when cooled, but will quickly turn into a gas if released into the air. The gas attacks people's respiratory systems: it is much denser than air, and dissolves the mucous membrane, which can cause fluid to build up. If that fluid is inhaled, it can cause someone to suffocate, similar to drowning. Even low levels can cause shortness of breath.

It is believed that the chlorine was a key component in the facility's water-cleaning facility, perhaps for its water-cooled components.

The Maiden facility is Apple's largest data centre on the East Coast, and at 505,000 square feet it is one of the largest in the world.

The site has been used by Apple to highlight its green credentials: it was the first large-scale data centre to be given the green LEED Platinum certification.

Most of the energy used at the facility comes from solar arrays in a vast 40MW, 200-acre installation on the same site. The energy shortfall is made up from fuel cells that will use biogas from nearby landfills to generate electricity and purchasing renewable energy from local sources, according to Apple.

The dumping of Apple shares by top hedge funds is continuing to gather speed and now even the Tame Apple Press is noticing.

Reuters took time out from its busy schedule of promoting Apple producst to report the surprise news that Top US hedge fund management firms, including Leon Cooperman's Omega Advisors and Philippe Laffont's Coatue Management, continued to reduce or slash stakes altogether in Apple during the first quarter.

We say surprise news, but we had noticed it when it actually happened.

Coatue cut its holding of Apple by selling 1.2 million shares during the first three months of this year, but it remains the fund's single biggest U.S. stock investment, with 7.7 million shares. Omega Advisors sold all of its 383,790 shares in Apple during the first quarter, while Rothschild Asset Management cut its stake by 107,953 to 938,693 shares, filings showed on Friday.

David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital also cut its exposure in Apple during the first quarter, slashing its stake by 1.2 million shares to 7.4 million shares.

Reuters cannot understand why the hedge funds are dumping their shares. Apple shares rose 12.7 percent in the first quarter and have continued to increase, it moaned.

But the reality is that if hedge funds listened to what fanboys wanted they would not be making the huge amounts of dosh they do. Objectively Apple's markets have peaked, sales of Tablets have slumped, its iPhone market is stable but has no real momentum and above all it has yet to come up with a new idea.

Although many analysts were expecting Apple to post lackluster results, Tim Cook’s outfit managed to beat market expectations, although it did report its first profit decline since 2003.

Apple managed to ship a total of 37.4 million iPhones and 19.5 million iPads last quarter. The figures were well above expectations, as some analysts were expecting iPhone shipments south of the 30 million mark. Apple reported first-quarter profit of $9.5 billion, down from $11.6 billion last year. Revenue was $43.6 billion, up from $39.2 billion a year ago. Mac sales were under 4 million units, down from 4.1 million.

Apple is still hoarding cash like a squirrel and it is currently sitting on a cash hoard of $145 billion. Although revenue is up, margins are down. It seems that quite a few consumers are opting for older iPhones and the iPad mini rather than the pricier iPhone 5 and iPad 4.

Cook used the opportunity to point out that Apple won’t have any major product launches anytime soon, but he said a slew of new products is coming this fall.